Optus customers will no longer be able to stream NRL and AFL matches on delay on their mobile phones, after Telstra and the football codes won a Federal Court appeal against the service.

Last year Optus began offering its customers the ability to record any free-to-air television program and watch it on a two-minute delay on mobile devices.

The move angered Telstra, the NRL and the AFL who said it threatened hundreds of millions of dollars in exclusive deals for internet broadcasting rights to matches.

In February, a Federal Court judge ruled the Optus TV service was not breaching copyright laws.

But this morning the full bench has overturned that decision, finding it was Optus, not its individual customers, making the recordings.

Speaking outside the court, Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton said his company was pleased with the judgment and would not be seeking damages.

"Today's judgment is a great result. It's vindication for Telstra and the sporting bodies who negotiate content rights," he said.

"What it means is that there's certainty for the content providers, the sporting bodies, in their income.

"And that's important for fans for players and for Australian sport in general."

Telstra has exclusive online broadcast rights for both the AFL and NRL, and its latest online deal with the AFL for the 2012-16 seasons cost the telco $153 million.

Media analysts said the initial ruling had made multi-million-dollar exclusive rights deals worthless.

'Right decision'

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou says it is the right decision.

"It's a great win, certainly it's more of a victory for our funding, for all the funding that we put into grassroots, because we rely on all the funding from these rights," he told Fairfax radio.

"So we're really thankful that the three learned judges unanimously upheld the decision and that common sense has prevailed."

Australian Rugby League Commission chief executive David Gallop said the decision was an important recognition of the rights of sports and that it was all the more significant given the ARLC's current broadcasting negotiations.

"We have always believed there was a clear principle in play here: that the sports are entitled to control who shows their events and who profits from those events," he said.

"Companies should not be able to profit from our content without investing in the sport itself."

Optus spokeswoman Clare Gill says it is a disappointing judgment and the company may go to the High Court.

"We have to look at all our options, which will include an appeal," she said.